PT How did Palpatine know Obi-Wan would find Kamino?

Why? If your goal is to do this, then you'd know.

Jango wasn't in on it. He was just told that it would be okay to use as a weapon and Zam was killed because he didn't want to be captured. He had no clue that he was being used.

 

it's too far fetched. palps isn't counting people's steps or cataloging what the jedi had for lunch that day. he knew the jedi would investigate and just didn't make it that difficult.

 

No more far fetched than putting a tracking device on the Falcon and hope that Han didn't stop to check the ship and then chuck it into the wild blue yonder. Nor that he Alliance wouldn't suspect that the Death Star II would be a trap.

 

palpatine wanted kamino found but having an assassin use a dart that no one can trace doesn't make any sense. palps didn't know the jedi would send the army to geonosis just to save three people but they did and he benefited from it. it's all gravy to palps. they're just making his job easier.

 

Too many variables. What if Obi-Wan wasn't the one assigned to protect Padmé? What if Obi-Wan didn't catch the assassin droid? What if Zam managed to escape from them? What if the Jedi had never left the bar with her?

Then what if he had killed her with a mere blaster bolt?

 

The Dart was traceable, it had markings on it that were specific to Kamino. Just because Kamino was removed from the Jedi Archives (the analysis droids were part of the archives, hence why they didn't pick up on the markings too) doesn't mean it was removed from every other archives or every other individuals collective memory in the galaxy. Obi Wan was leading an investigation and eventually would have found that the dart was from Kamino either way. He just so happened to know someone that was able to get him the info relatively quickly, which was actually Lucas's way of speeding up the story rather than show Obi Wan talking to numerous people, or archivists as he beat the streets.

I am really hopeful that no-one in the last couple threads that I've discussed this in, are in real life cops or detectives. I picture a scenario of some of you guys not being able to find a suspects name on the internet and you throw your hands in the air, "well that's the end of the investigation, it's not on the internet, so it's not anywhere else!"

You can "What if" all you want, the point is that Lucas has come out and said that this is what Palpatine is doing. You know, Lucas, the guy that wrote the movie? Lucas says in the Blu Ray Commentary:

If you watch the movie, you see it is Palpatine that suggest that the Jedi be the ones that are responsible for Padme's security, and it is again Palpatine that suggests an old friend, Obi Wan, be the one that is in charge of that security. Palpatine is the one that instigates the Jedi's involvement, and it is Palpatine that suggests that it be Obi Wan that is involved so as to make it more comfortable for Padme to accept. So right there in the first 5 minutes of the movie you see that Palpatine is already manipulating events to get Obi Wan involved with Padme, which leads to the assassins, which leads to the dart, which leads to Kamino, which leads to the Clone Army, which leads to Fett, which leads to Geonosis, which leads to the Droid Army and the separatists plot, which leads to Palpatine getting Emergency Powers, which leads to Palpatine creating a grand army of the republic, which leads to the Jedi using the Clones to rescue Obi Wan, which leads to the Clone Wars, which will further lead into Palpatines plot of destroying the Jedi, getting more and more emergency powers, and taking over the Republic.

What if's based on whether you find it believable or not are irrelevant at this point because Lucas has said that this is Palpatines doing from the start. So when you take the above quote from Lucas which appears at the beginning of AOTC, the take the quote from the end of AOTC where Lucas says that everything is going just how Sidious has planned it, it shows that everything sandwiched between those two quotes, which is the movie itself is all Sidious's doing.

I personally don't find it hard to believe that Sidous has pulled this off. After all, he has the Force as his ally at this point. The Dark Side has clouded the Jedi's ability to use the Force as Yoda says in AOTC. The Dark Side has essentially become stronger than the Light Side. So I don't find it hard to believe at all that Sidious, using a mix of being able to see the future, and good old fashioned manipulation, is able to get what he wants.

 

Well, I think it's clear at this point that Palpatine meant for Obi-Wan to follow the trail to Kamino. But after Obi-Wan successfully informed the Council of the clone army's existence, I think the plan might have been for Jango to finish him off. Because I still can't figure out how Palpatine thought it would be a good idea for Obi-Wan to follow Jango to Geonosis and discover that the clone template was simultaneously working for the Sith. Obviously it could just be explained away as a mercenary coincidentally working both sides, but revealing that information to the Jedi just seems like such an unnecessary risk.

 

First,

The big strike against this convoluted and contrived plan is this;
Palpatine has ZERO need of it. None what so ever.

He doesn't need the Jedi to find Kamino. What he needs is the clone army, which he will have once the Kamino people contact the senate. Which they WILL eventually do. As far as the senate goes, the army was ordered by a Jedi some years ago. Which will both make it seem legit and also make the senate a bit untrusting of the Jedi. Both are things Palpatine needs. By having Obi-Wan/the Jedi find the army, the Jedi learn far too much about it, enough for them to question the validity of it. Esp if Jango is caught and talks.
So he doesn't have to give extremely specific orders or use a highly uncertain and risky plan.

Once the Kamino people contact the Senate then Dooku just needs to given a public warning or attack some republic world and he will have his war and his extra powers too. This also removes the risk to Dooku and his premature death could spoil Palpatine's plan.
Much simpler, much less risky, gives the Jedi less reason to think the war is fake and in all a superior plan.

The only reason why a smart and intelligent person like Palpatine would engage in such a contrived plan that could fail in about a thousand ways is either a) he is an moron, b) he tries to sabotage his own plans or c) he has read the script.
Neither of which does any favors to the quality of the writing.

Second, consider the many ways this plan could have failed.
Padme is killed in the first attempt. Watch the film, she gets thrown back by the force of the blast and loads of shrapnel flies about. She could easily have gotten killed.
Zam programs the droid to self-destruct or fly away once spotted.
Zam uses the powers in the bar and eludes the Jedi.
Zam is killed when her speeder crashes.
Obi-Wan doesn't think to visit Dex or Dex is out of town.
Jango is killed by or kills Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan blurts out the truth to the Kamino people, that the senate never ordered any army.
Jango realizes he is being set up and doesn't use the dart or files away the markings.
Jango later realizes he is being set up and submits to the Jedi and tells them everything or goes into hiding.
Jango is caught and tells the Jedi everything.
Etc...

Third, someone mentioned cops.
Well criminal investigations can take quite a bit of time, weeks, months and even years. Is Palpatine just going to sit on his war while Obi-Wan wanders around the galaxy asking people if they can ID this dart? Esp when he doesn't have to? And how traceable is the dart? Say only 50 people on Coruscant can ID it? Then it could take Obi-Wan a LOOONG time before getting anywhere.
Also, if an investigator is pursuing a lead and it leads into a dead end, they don't give up. What they tend to do is investigate other leads. Which in this case is the Naboo trail. After the first hit, the Jedi thought that Naboo miners were behind this. Nothing about Zam and the Dart says that this is wrong, they could still be involved by hiring some assassin. So if the dart yields nothing, Obi-Wan next course could very well be to go to Naboo and dig around there.
Also, why did Palpatine bother to create this false lead to Naboo if he never intended the Jedi to follow it?
Also, if a criminal removes traces to a place, it follows that the criminal doesn't want that place found. No criminal would think "I'll remove all traces to this location just to ensure that the cops find it, foolproof!"

Fourth, about Palpatine's foresight. TPM shows very clearly that Palpatine isn't omniscient. There several things doesn't go as he planned and he failed to foresee a lot. But he was shown to be quick on his feet and adapts his plans. So having him do the same in AotC is both consistent with his character and how both his and foresight in general works. There is nothing in AotC that suggest that Palpatine is suddenly 1000 times more accurate in his ability to foresee things. Not to mention that he has to have planned all this around TPM, when the clone army was ordered.
Or for that matter, if didn't know that Maul would die, then he couldn't have planned to turn a Jedi. Which he needs to do in order to delete the Kamino file.
The Jedi's ability is weaker yes but even TPM they weren't all that good. They failed to foresee the invasion of Naboo or the return of the Sith. Also in RotS did Palpatine foresee that Anakin would get burned? Or that Obi-Wan and Yoda would escape order 66? It doesn't seem so. And in the OT there are several things Palpatine doesn't foresee.
So either you have Palpatine's power jump several orders of magnitude in just one film or you can be more consistent.

Fifth, someone mentioned RotJ and the DS2 trap. If the rebels don't show, the DS2 gets completed and the rebellion will loose eventually, it would just take longer. So Palpatine wins either way.
The tracking device on the MF wasn't Palpatine's plan, it was Vaders. If the device is hidden so well that you won't be able to find it without days of search. Vader knows that the rebels want the plans and badly at that. Would Leia waste days looking for a tracking device while the DS is out there, blowing up planets? Perhaps.
And Tarkin did mention that the plan was risky. So he was aware that it could fail.

Sixth, about Jango and him being told to use the dart. If so, why didn't he simply shoot Zam when the droid was on it's way back to her? If he was told to kill her and let the jedi find her body, that would have been the perfect time. Yet he didn't. Or shoot her once the droid flies away. Or even simpler, use an explosive unique to Kamino when blowing up Padme's ship.


In closing, I know what Lucas said but I take what is in the films and construct the simplest and most reasonable explanation from that. And one that doesn't weaken the film by having a ridiculous and contrived plot.
Thus, Palpatine wanted Padme dead as she was an obstacle to his army bill and because Dooku had told him what Nute wanted. When both attempts fail, he adapts and orders Padme off planet, that solves one of his problems.
His overall plan was for the Kamino to contact the senate or for him to contact them once Dooku had the seps all organized. Then Dooku makes a threat/an attack, the senate panics and gives him extra powers and the clone army is used and war begins.
This is basically what had happened at the end of AotC so Sidious says that all is going as planned, which it is.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

When did the Jedi find out that Dooku was a Sith Lord? Certainly did not happen anytime in AOTC. I have said this in other threads, everyone seems to forget that the Jedi did not have control over the Clone Army. Palpatine did. He was the Chancellor of the Republic, not the Jedi. He was the one with the Emergency Powers, not the Jedi. He was the one that created the Grand Army of the Republic, not the Jedi. The Jedi did not know a thing about Jango's involvement with Dooku until after the Clone Wars had started. Key point is after! Also for that matter they didn't know Dooku was a Sith yet. The bottom line is that once Palpatine got his Emergency power, the Clone Army, and the war started, the Jedi could have gone spit for all he cared. However he counted on them doing the right thing, no matter what they may have thought, and that was helping fight the separatists. So let me walk you through some scenarios...

Jedi think Dooku is playing both sides because Jango is at his side at the arena. The war has broken out now and it is after the arena battle, so the Jedi approach Palpatine and tell him that they think there is a problem with the Clone Army and they lay out the reasons why... Do you think Palpatine, who controls the army, is going to say, Ok lets not use them, and find another army while the separatists run unchecked throughout the galaxy? If the Jedi somehow get it to a vote in the senate where they lay out the evidence, do you think that the Senate would vote to not use the Clone Army and find another Army while the separatists run unchecked throughout the galaxy? Well maybe go to Palpatine and/or the Senate and ask them to stop using the Clones and open up dialogue with the Separatists? Do you think Dooku, who was working with Palpatine behind the scenes is really going to hold peace talks now that the war has started?

So if one of those scenarios played out, there is no way the Republic was going to stop using the Army, no matter what they Jedi said or did. Even if the Jedi sat out of the war, the war still goes on. Killing the Jedi wasn't the only reason he wanted the war started.

The bottom line is, that is why Palpatine needed everything to happen so close together and so quickly. Both armies being found, his emergency powers, and the war starting. He needed the armies found so the war would start, but he needed those powers so no one but him could control the army. Everything needed to happen fast so no one had a chance to step back and say.. wait... hold on a sec. So basically all Palpatine needed to worry about was getting Obi Wan to Geonosis, the rest took care of itself for him. No matter if the Jedi started asking questions about Jango.

 

Palpatine is the one who sent the clones to Geonosis. He gave the executive order to do so. Lucas said that Palpatine set Anakin and Obi-wan up so that they could find the army and go to Geonosis. So he knew full well that the Jedi would find it. The Jedi are relentless, his own words. He Dooku both knew that Obi-wan would find someone to help him trace the dart. They just waited for the perfect scenario to present itself in which they would send the Jedi off on their little journey.

PALPATINE: "I realize all too well that additional security might be disruptive for you, but perhaps someone you are familiar with... an old friend like... Master Kenobi..."

MACE WINDU: "That's possible. He has just returned from a Border dispute on Ansion."

The attack was timed out so that it would happen just after the two Jedi returned from their mission.

Zam was going to be eliminated. First rule of assassination, kill the assassin. Jango would use the dart and her body would be found and the Jedi would investigate.

That is a possibility, but I'd wager Jango's killed other people using similar toxic darts, so he was quite used to relying on it.

The Jedi have no saying in using the army. He already has the executive power he needs to do so and since the Jedi are so set in their ways, he knows that they'll use the army. Obi-wan and Anakin even find out that Dooku was involved, months before the war's end, but the Jedi still use the army.

When he fights Obi-wan, Yoda and Anakin. He left the Jedi Order and was using the dark side, hence he was a Sith Lord.

 

Not buying that one. If anything The Clone Wars has shown us that there are still Dark Side users who aren't Sith. Furthermore, the events in TPM also show us that the Jedi are aware that there are Dark Side users, or dark warriors as Mace put it, that aren't Sith. When Qui Gon told the council that he was attacked, none of them balked at the idea of a dark warrior, just the thought that the dark warrior was a Sith.

So I am not totally convinced that at the end of AOTC the Jedi were aware that Dooku was a Sith.

In fact when Yoda, Mace, and Obi Wan were in the council chambers, Yoda never says he is a Sith, he says:

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Do you believe what Count Dooku said about Sidious controlling the Senate? It doesn't feel right.
Yoda: Joined the Dark Side, Dooku has. Lies, deceit, creating mistrust are his ways now.
Mace Windu: Nevertheless, I think we should keep a closer eye on the Senate.Yoda: I agree.



If they actually thought that Dooku was a Sith, than it would have been stated there. Instead they are still mulling over if a Sith is even controlling the Senate, as if there was some truth to what Dooku told Obi Wan, and that truth being he (Dooku) was trying to fight the Sith. Not a Sith himself.

 

The Jedi don't know about Ventress yet and do not recognize Dooku as being a Nightbrother.

There's no reason to state what is obvious. And as to the rest, the Sith are notorious for turning on each other. Hence they conceede that though far fetched, it isn't out of the realm of possibility for a Sith to turn on another. Especially when Dooku extends an offer to Obi-wan to join him.

 

First, that quote requires context, and until then is open to interpretation. I just checked the commentary track and couldn't pinpoint where Lucas says that. And second, if you're implying that I don't take Lucas' explanations over the events of his movies in consideration then you clearly aren't familiar with my participation on this forum.

 

That's because it's on the Blu Ray 2nd commentary track, not the DVD commentary. And it's at the scene where Obi Wan and Anakin are in the elevator on their way to Padme's apartment.

Not sure what more context you need when Lucas says that Palpatine wants Obi Wan involved to find the Clone Army.



And no I am not familiar, as you probably aren't familiar with mine, especially when I was the one that found that quote and established it in another thread.

 

When your quote starts with "The other part of this is (...)" it's removing the context of the whole explanation. The other part of what? That Palpatine gets Obi-Wan and Anakin with Padmé by suggesting it, is shown in the movie so there is no argument that he had an interest on her being with those two (or one of them in particular).

The relevant part is "And part of it is to get Obi-wan to find the clones and the Clone Army.". But part of what? Palpatine's maneuvering? The plot of the movie? Or part of "the other part" from the previous sentence that lacks context by omission?

 

I'm pretty sure it holds true for everyone. There are many possible futures.

 

I don't understand this comment. Palpatine wanted Obi-Wan to trace Jango to Kamino and later, Geonosis. But the whole thing about the clone template working for the Sith? Yoda had proclaimed before the end of the movie that Dooku had "fallen to the Dark Side", due to the latter's involvement with the Separatists and the assassination attempt on Padme. He said nothing about Dooku being a Sith Lord. Not in AOTC.

Succumbing to evil doesn't always mean becoming a Sith . . . even for a former Jedi.

 

This is a common misconception. I don't know if it's born of the EU or what, but the fact is the Jedi absolutely found out that Dooku was a Sith Lord in Episode II. He was shooting lightning out of his fingertips, for Pete's sake. If they could identify Maul as a Sith Lord based on his red lightsaber, fighting style, and knowledge of the dark side, then they could identify Dooku as such.

Not to mention that they explicitly refer to Dooku as a Sith Lord in Episode III. If it was an important plot point that they didn't know in Episode II, I don't think they would have had the Jedi find out off-screen.

It doesn't matter that the Jedi had no say in whether the clone army was used or not. There's still no reason to make them more suspicious than they have to be. There's no compelling reason to reveal to the Jedi that Jango is working for the Sith. Why take the risk? Was there no other way? I doubt it.

 

There is no reason for the Jedi to suppose that Jango has been working for Dooku for ten years though. As far as they are concerned he could simply be working for him ( and the separatists) to kill Padme with his being the clone template unrelated. There is also no reason for them to assume that Jango, or the Separatists know that Dooku is a Sith either, as opposed to say, a political idealist.
While the Jedi may well realise Dooku is a Sith they do not know he is Darth Tyrannus ( and Jango identifies the man who hired him as Tyrannus, not DARTH Tyrannus).

 

I haven't listened to the commentary, but I think the first part is that Palpatine wants to get Padme out of the way or he wants to drive Anakin's ambition.

 

also to separate kenobi and anakin which happens in ep 2 and ep 3.

 

Tag and Bink on the subject of sending Anakin & Padme off together:

Tag: "Who are the wisest Jedi?"
Bink: "The Council of Twelve."
Tag: "Who assigns all the missions?"
Bink: "The Council."
Tag: "Now, do you honestly think that the wisest Jedi in the universe are going to send two hormonally charged teenagers off to a romantic, secluded planet - by themselves - and be oblivious as to what the inevitable outcome will be?"

I could see Palpatine being the one who Anakin has talked about Padme in the past to - and thus, able to predict the result even when the Jedi Council think Anakin can overcome his desires.

 

I wouldn't say it's a misconception.

Once upon a time, when StarWars.com had that awesome database of characters, weapons, vehicles etc. The database entry for Dooku stated:

Now, the database was in part written by Pablo Hidalgo (prob the only guy that knows more about Star Wars than Lucas does). That old database went poof a few years ago. Which is a crying shame as it was just full of a ton of useful information. I was planning on going entry by entry and print them all out, much like I did with the set diaries from the making of ROTS. I was able to get the set diaries printed out, but, the databank entries were taken down before I could even get one printed out.

My only proof of it's existence I was able to find is this link to an archived forums where they discuss it, copy/paste the quote and original link which now directs to Dooku's current and quite scaled down databank entry.

http://www.galacticsenate.com/showthread.php?1882-Are-The-Jedi-Aware-That-Dooku-Is-A-Sith

So take it for what it's worth. I remember reading the databank entry back then, that's how I knew to look for it. I know some will say that since I can't produce the actual databank entry then what I posted above means nothing. Which I say to each their own. It's up to whomever what they want to believe. BTW, if anyone has any of that old StarWars.com content archived somewhere, please please let me know lol. I got some of it, but so much is gone.

As for the Jedi seeing red lightsabers and realizing they are Sith, that is a misconception. First of all we will use an "in-universe" answer. If all it took was a red lightsaber to prove that someone was a Sith, all Qui Gon needed to say was that Maul had a red lightsaber when they fought on Tatooine, and it would have been a slam dunk. However, he never brings it up because it is not a slam dunk that a red lightsaber, or even using the dark side automatically means Sith. So it is obvious that using the Dark Side or using a red lightsaber is not automatically an indicator of being a Sith.

Furthermore, a real life practical answer to the red ligthsaber is that you can think of the characters of Star Wars being blind to lightsaber colors (as far as the movies). The lightsaber colors were used as a motif for the audience to associate with. Not for the characters in the movies to associate with. Much like in some of the old westerns, the good guys wore the white hat, and the bad guys wore the black hat. It told the audience who the bad guy was, but, the good guys would not look at the bad guys hat and say, "Hey, there's the bad guy cause he has a black hat!" It's much the same way in Star War, the red lightsabers were the black hats. Lucas used these color motifs throughout the trilogies, though more-so in the OT. The Empire used reds, whites, blacks, greys. Cold colors, colors of death, hate, anger, aggression. The Rebels used greens, blues, browns. Organic colors, peaceful colors etc. There were some exceptions, as I believe the colors of ship weapons was flipped. However, there are plenty of quotes from Lucas out there about why he used the colors he did.

What happens, as with anything Star Wars, is the fans wanted an actual in-universe answer as to why the Sith use red, and the Jedi used blue/green. Thus the crystal storyline was born out of the EU.

So again, at the end of AOTC, when Obi Wan, Yoda, and Mace are chatting, there is a reason that none of them come out and say that Dooku is a Sith.


Edit: I was able to find more information about the old Databank entry:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Count+Dooku

Looks like they copy pasted the old SW.com databank entry. Credit from SW.com is even given at the bottom...

 

In fairness the Jedi should at least suspect that Dooku is a Sith. If only because he left the order around the time of Darth Mauls appearance and is powerful in the dark side and apparently empire building ( and working with Nute Gunray and the Trade Federation to boot).
However that does not mean the Separatists and Jango automatically know he is a Sith, or even a dark Jedi. Since they see Dooku as a political idealist, and since they have a fair idea of his activities with the Separatists, Dooku must present the appearance of being a relatively noble individual with ideological opposition to the corruption of the Senate. Certainly the Separatist must see him this way to flock to his banner ( and note the meeting on Geonosis is Dooku, the Separatist leader with the various commerce guilds signing a treaty to aid the Confederacy. They are NOT part of it per-se).

The Jedi may well assume Dooku is maintaining his respectable air to all and sundry. They certainly have no reason to link the name Tyrannus to him. As I mentioned before there is a difference between Jango is working for Dooku and Jango has been working for Dooku for the last ten years.

 

Ok this makes sense but consider this, if what you say is true then wouldn't this make a much better plan?
The Kamino people contacts the senate/Palpatine. Palpatine reports this to the senate and says "Strange, a Clone army was apparently ordered by a Jedi ten years ago and now it is ready."
In a matter of hours Dooku makes a televised threat "Agree to our demands or I'll attack you with my great droid army!"
The senate panics and see no choice but to give extra Powers to Palpatine and make him make use of the clone army. War begins, he has his extra powers and the army.
The Jedi don't know anything about Jango and his involvement with Dooku nor do they know about the oddity with the dates. So they are as much in the dark as the senate, which is a good thing for Palpatine.
Also, this way Palpatine controls everything and there is less risk or error or failure.
Also, from AotC it seems that the seps were not totally formed yet. Dooku present this treaty he wants them to sign. The banking clan and the techno union seem to be onboard, but the TF are not yet committed and the guy that says "What you say could be considered treason" didn't seem totally onboard either. So why not let Dooku finish putting the seps together and then start the war?

As I said before, he has no reason at all to have Obi-Wan find the army and plenty of reasons not to.
Obi-Wan could spoil things with the Kamino people. If Obi-Wan is killed or is unable to report from Geonosis then the jedi knows about the army but with no threat of war, they now have time to dig deeper. Which they did anyway, they could have sent 1-2 other Jedi to Kamino after Obi-Wan finished his report and gone over every detail with a fine comb. All of this are things Palpatine does NOT want.

As for Dooku being a Sith at the end of AotC. I think it clear that the Jedi knows this. Based on the films there are only Jedi and Sith, nothing in-between. I think Lucas has said that the term "Dark Jedi" is an oxymoron. Qui-Gon fights Maul and knows only two things, he has a Red lightsabre and is trained in the Jedi arts. He concludes that Maul is a Sith. The other Jedi are skeptical as they think the Sith are all dead. However at films end they too agree that Maul is a Sith. But what did the Jedi learn about Maul on Naboo? Maul never said he was a Sith, he didn't show them his Sith membership card. So they know nothing more than they knew already, he can use the Force, he knows how to fight and has a red lightsabre. All of which fit Dooku plus Yoda says that he can feel the Dark side in him. So if the Jedi can conclude that Maul is a Sith they would do the same with Dooku. They don't directly say it but given what the audience knows it would be rather redundant to mention that. And this is also something that Palpatine might not want the Jedi to know. If they still think that Dooku is just a ex-Jedi and not one of the two Sith Lords, they are more in the dark and this serves Palpatine's interests.

Yes Palpatine controls the Clone Army. But he also needs the Jedi to fight in the war. If the Jedi know too much about the clone army, they can start taking precautions. Like faking Jedi deaths, quietly moving Jedi of Coruscant and other things that could mess up his plans.
Also, by having the Jedi find the clone army, he gives them time to investigate and they could find out facts he doesn't want them to know. Far safe then for him to "find" the army, either by a call from Kamino or him "sending" someone there.

To sum up, having Obi-Wan find the army is unnecessary, is much more risky and has a very low chance of actually working. So it doesn't make sense why Palpatine would bother with this plan when he doesn't have to.
As for what Lucas says, with Blade Runner, Ridley Scott says that Deckard is a Replicant but since the film is ambiguous I choose to interpret the film that he is human. First because it makes little logical sense to have him a Replicant and second because I think it weakens the film, the story and the characters if he is.
Same with AotC, the film is not clear so I choose to interpret the film that Palpatine did NOT plan for all this dart stuff. He had an overall plan, things happened that made him change it but it worked out in the end for him. Makes more logical sense, fits with his character and makes for a better plot.

Bye for now.
The Guarding Dark